Universal nabs Azealia Banks

Much-courted ‘212’ rapper Azealia Banks has confirmed that she has signed a recording contract with Universal Music. The label will oversee the release of her debut album, slated by the MC for a tentative May/June release.

The Universal deal may mark Banks’ first brush with a major, but it isn’t her first ever label experience. The 20 year old MC signed a development deal with XL Recordings in 2009, but then abruptly broke off from the London-based independent, seemingly over creative differences with its owner, producer Richard Russell.

Speaking in this interview with Self-Titled magazine, she claims: “Richard was cool, but as soon as I didn’t want to use his beats, it got real sour. He wound up calling me ‘amateur’ and shit, and the XL interns started talking shit about me. I was like: ‘I didn’t come here for a date. I came here to cut some fucking records’. I got turned off on the music industry and disappeared for a bit. I went into a bit of a depression”.

She recently told the BBC: “I was like, this is not what I worked so hard my entire life to do – to be rejected by some English guy in West Bumblefrickin nowhere London, telling me I’m amateur or something like that. So I just said: ‘Screw you!'”

So there you go. You may as well, now that you’re here, have a listen to Banks’ latest track ‘Bambi’, which was debuted at Paris Fashion Week.

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